Consumer sentiment plunged 11% this month, the University of Michigan said in its latest survey released Friday, the second-lowest reading on records going back to 1952. April’s reading was lower than anything seen during the Great Recession.

“This decline was, like the last month’s, pervasive and unanimous across age, income, education, geographic region and political affiliation,” Joanne Hsu, the survey’s director, said in a release.

Last September a report from the Centre for Business Prosperity at Aston University in the U.K. reveals that negative impacts of Brexit have intensified over time.

The report showed a 27% drop in UK exports and a 32% decline in imports from the EU.

The freeing up of international trade appears to "float all boats".

Brexit and now Trump's barriers to free trade will be studied by economists for decades - probably as cautionary tales.

With an election coming, I am more interested in what is happening in Australia than spending in America. Albanese and his comrades try to bring in Trump and American politics (even ludicrously comparing the weak Dutton with Trump) to take minds off the dreadful performance of Labor over the past three years. Some people are obviously going along with the diversion.

If we can't help comparing ourselves with America, we should include the cuts in government and quango spending imposed by Donald Trump, with the huge increases of government spending (of money it does not have) by the Albanese government, bribing voters to overlook the fact that hard times are entirely the fault of that government. Me to! shouts the, so-called Opposition, as it backtracks on its undertakings because people who will never vote for them get the huff.

Labor, and the Coalition before it, have wrecked the economy with their big government spending; now they want to give us our own money back to cover up their sins.

Australia's biggest costs are those incurred by big government. Not too far in the future, the uniparty will not be able to get Third World immigrants to come here because Australia won't be much better than where they live now. Import the Third World, become the Third World.

Three different sectors all with the same sad story:

Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, is urging President Donald Trump to stop his trade war with China. Ragland urged the administration to “get a proactive trade deal done” that’s good for farmers and the country as a whole, instead of “building barriers with tariffs.”

Citing market uncertainty, Utah Iron shuts down mining operations in Iron County. Located approximately 15 miles west of Cedar City, Utah Iron is one of Iron County’s larger employers, adding, “The company also supports many other small and large business(es) locally and regionally as well as major transportation providers, railway and sea shipping, that will be impacted.”

American Shale Chief Tells Peers to Stop Drilling 'Right Away":
Shale boss Bryan Sheffield, as quoted by OilPrice.com , appears to have called on America's shale drillers to cut drilling immediately.

The industry is frustrated over its high level of support for the new administration, which has since caused a severe oil price plunge despite promises of a future where shale drillers could "drill baby, drill".

I think that it is more a case of "dill, baby, dill".

With The Orange Man shown to be a complete (economic) nitwit, our forums band of gung-ho Trumpsters like ttbn, are scrambling to distance themselves from the American fool.

In modern developed economies everything depends on consumerism, and the degree of consumer confidence. Trump totally misunderstood the basis of the American economy, and its total reliance on consumer demand. The crash of the stock market was only secondary to the crash of confidence among consumers. With less than 5% of the worlds population, and with one of the worlds highest level of disposable incomes, America accounts for more than 25% of world consumption.